DC comic book artist Sheldon Moldoff died February 29 at age 91. Moldoff was the last surviving artist to have worked on
Action Comics # 1, drew the first Golden Age stories of the Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman, and is primarily known as Bob Kane's main ghost artist on
Batman and
Detective Comics from 1953 - 1967.
When I started reading and collecting comics books in the mid-1960s, Sheldon Moldoff and Carmine Infantino were the two main Bat-artists. Moldoff had an interesting career arc on Batman, beginning as Bob Kane's ghost in 1953 when superhero comics were on the downslide. Under editor Jack Schiff in the 1950s and early 1960s, the character assumed a Comics Code Authority kid-friendly tone with a cartoonish art style by Moldoff, and stories (Bat-Baby, Zebra-Batman, Batman vs. aliens & monsters) and supporting characters (Bat-Mite, Bat-Woman, Ace the Bat-Hound) that borrowed heavily on the gimmicks and popularity of Superman.
Julie Schwartz took over as editor in 1964, and gave us the "new look" design by Carmine Infantino, remodeling the strip back into its 1940s adventure/detective tone, with only ocassional appearances by the Rogues Gallery (Joker, Penguin, Riddler, etc.). Moldoff stayed on as the main
Batman artist, and rotated with Infantino on
Detective, but needed heavy inking by Joe Giella and Sid Greene to eliminate the cartoonish style and maintain the "new look." He continued on during the 1966 - 1967 years when the BATMAN TV series was in fad, but when DC bought out Bob Kane's contract in 1967, Sheldon was unemployed.
Mark Evanier's blog goes into greater detail on Sheldon's career.
He'll never be known as the best Bat-artist, but his tenure includes some great childhood memories. Rest in peace.
